Naturopathic physician promotes ‘natural path’ to wellbeing
By Eric Surber
Delaney’s office, 301 W. Weaver Street, houses an estimated 500 vials of natural remedies and supplements. Treatment books surround the room, and small bottles contain substances like cuttlefish ink, sulfur and Echinacea, which she uses to treat patients through homeopathic methods—not a lab coat or fluorescent light in site.
However, her career began in conventional medicine. Delaney received her Bachelor’s of nursing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, practiced as a burn and trauma nurse in both North and South Carolina and later moved to California where she worked in clinical settings. But she wanted to do something different.
“You know those little white pill containers nurses hand to patients?” Delaney said, describing what piqued her interest in natural medicine. “I just had the sense handing those to people, and realizing that this wasn’t really going to help them on a deeper level—that we were just addressing the symptoms and not really what was going on at the bigger mental, emotional and physical level.”
Delaney then began studying naturopathic medicine in California, but state laws prevented her from doing clinical training. She finished her degree at the National College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland, Ore., which is one of only five accredited schools in naturopathic medicine in the United States.
Delaney said the first two years in naturopathic school resemble conventional medical school where students study anatomy, physiology, biochemistry and dissect cadavers. After the general science courses, students focus on different systems of natural medicine; she chose homeopathy.
“Homeopathy has this system thought that there’s a vital force within each of us, and the job is to stimulate the body’s own healing mechanism,” Delaney said. “In western medicine we call this homeostasis.”
Her approach to medicine is also holistic. Delaney said she analyzes all the forces in a patient’s life—from their diet and exercise habits, to their emotional wellbeing—to treat and diagnose disease.
This holistic approach is also entering conventional medicine. Integrative medicine combines treatments and philosophies from both conventional and alternative systems to promote wellbeing. UNC-CH and Duke University now have departments of integrative medicine at their respective medical schools.
Dr. Adam Perlman, the executive director of integrative medicine at Duke University, described the holistic approach saying, “Holistic medicine isn’t about just getting blood pressure to a certain range, but there are all kinds of factors that impact one’s health. Stress, whether or not they exercise, whether or not nutrition is appropriate and healthy, even things like relationships. All of these go into wellbeing.”
Delaney lectures medical students at the UNC-CH Department of Integrative medicine about naturopathy. There’s evidence she said that conventional medicine is opening up to alternative approaches.
“Now medical doctors are more willing to accept what I do, and they refer me patients and I refer them.” Delaney said. “It’s really changed.”
But the legality of naturopathy in North Carolina is still unclear. Delaney said that most medical doctors consider any non-licensed practitioner’s recommending vitamin C or Echinacea for the common cold to be practicing without a license. Courts of law, however, have only prosecuted when a person without a medical license administers prescription drugs or performs surgery.
Susan Gaylord, program director at UNC’s department of integrative medicine, said she hopes that naturopathy will be the next field of alternative medicine to receive licensure from the North Carolina Legislature. She coined the word “a-legal” to describe fields of alternative medicine that aren’t officially recognized by the state.
Delaney has spent much of her career working to establish professional standards and get licensure for naturopaths in North Carolina. The state has licensure programs for other alternative medicine practitioners like message therapists, chiropractors, and most recently in 1994, the General Assembly granted licensure for acupuncturists. In 2009, The North Carolina Association of Naturopathic Physicians, Delaney is currently treasurer, promoted a bill to change naturopathy’s status from “a-legal.”
“She’s an amazing person,” Gaylord said, describing Delaney. “She’s a real leader in the field of naturopathy, and she’s devoted a lot of her life to licensure.”
Delaney is also devoted to teaching about the naturopathic “path” to healthy living.
“What I’m trying to do is remove obstacles to a cure and stimulate the body’s own healing mechanism.” Delaney said. “What I have to do is educate; doctor actually means teacher. I’m trying to get people to take personal responsibility for their health.”
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